Hey, just trying to troubleshoot my battery light on in my dash and when I put the volt on the battery lugs when its going I get no more than what is in the battery, so I can assume that the alternator is shot? Could it be anything else? I took one end of the booster cable and put it on the negative battery lug and on the ground to rule out a ground problem, no help there.
I will take it off tonight when I get home. So what is the little red wire that goes to the battery lug, it leaves the battery and goes to the passenger rear quarter panel, I assumed it was the voltage regulator?
If you're not getting around 14 at the posts with the car running, chances are your alternator isn't putting out. Not sure about the red wire but sure somebody will chime in.
Why do I keep buying Pontiac's, I have had two Montana's and it used to be a days work to change the battery and now I have a Fiero which took me a day all added up to change the alternator...lol!! Anyways the alternator is done and the light is off and she is charging fine.
Anyone with questions on changing the alternator on the 2.5 fire away at me.
I took the top bracket off and removed the alternator from the bottom since the bolt going through the alternator and bottom bracket was seized in there. Wasn't like to have to jack the engine to get the bottom bolt in through the engine mount and bracket. Since my EGR valve is gone when I got the car I never had to remove anything but if it was there it didn't look like it would be in the way.
Battery on the Montana...wicked!!! I had to remove the fuse panel and the cross bar(goes from fender to front), then break off the bolt holding the battery in place, some fun!!!!
I took the top bracket off and removed the alternator from the bottom since the bolt going through the alternator and bottom bracket was seized in there. Wasn't like to have to jack the engine to get the bottom bolt in through the engine mount and bracket. Since my EGR valve is gone when I got the car I never had to remove anything but if it was there it didn't look like it would be in the way.
Battery on the Montana...wicked!!! I had to remove the fuse panel and the cross bar(goes from fender to front), then break off the bolt holding the battery in place, some fun!!!!
Yup, EGR is usually in the way.... just enough
As for the Montana... just wait until you have to change struts... fuse box, cross bar and wiper motor/mech. has to be removed. Really, it isn't that bad though. Looks much worse than it is. I got it done in about 6 hours, workly slowly and even changed out the tie-rod ends.
here we go again, since i put the new alternator on the car has been pretty much stuck in the garage since. I may have put about 10 miles the most on the car and the light is back on. I put new battery bolts(the ones that is on the cable) a few days ago and the connection looked good and clean. I took the car for a spin this morning and after about a couple of miles the light came on solid. Got any ideas what to look for first, I haven't done anything yet.
The battery right now with no load is showing around 11.65 volts with the car off. With the car going there is a little less on the battery. The cable from the altenator to the battery is fine and the ignition wires(testing) according to the shop manual is fine. My guess its the alternator. Where is the voltage regulator, it doesn't look like its on the alternator its a pretty simply looking alternator, not like the one that is on the montana. WIth the car going and the voltmeter lead on the alternator and the battery it showing less than what is in the battery with the car shut off.
The battery right now with no load is showing around 11.65 volts with the car off. With the car going there is a little less on the battery. The cable from the altenator to the battery is fine and the ignition wires(testing) according to the shop manual is fine. My guess its the alternator. Where is the voltage regulator, it doesn't look like its on the alternator its a pretty simply looking alternator, not like the one that is on the montana. WIth the car going and the voltmeter lead on the alternator and the battery it showing less than what is in the battery with the car shut off.
Voltage regulator is internal to the alternator. You should have the battery fully charged and load tested (usually can get that done for free at Canadian Tire) before you change the alternator again.
Bad regulators can damage your battery....bad batteries can damage your regulator....always make sure both are tested when one goes bad.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 11-10-2013).]
when I had a problem on my alternator - I found that because I had all the brackets powder coated the alternator wasn't grounding - so I put a ground wire from the top of the bolt ( goes through the bracket and holds the alternator in place) and the other end of the ground wire to the dog bone bolt and this cured it.
I will take a look, but I have nothing painted or powder coated. Maybe it just could be a bad ground, I will check that too.
Actually I did replace all the bolts that hold the wires on the battery about a week ago or so and everything looked clean and I did check Sunday for tightness and they were tight, I will check that as well.
Update, just finally got my top pan gasket on after about 3 weeks or so with the wrong one on, now I can start the car. I had the battery on charge and now when I started the car this morning the battery light wasn't on. I never had a chance to see if it was charging as I had to go to work, would it be just cause the battery is up that the light won't come on? Could it be that if the battery is so low that the alternator won't start charging, you would have to charge the battery first? WHen I put the new rebuilt alternator in I never charged the battery I let the alternator do it, more or less 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there. Got any ideas?
My alternator is working again putting out about 14.63 volts, could it be that the battery was that low the alternator didn't kick in until it was charged? Could it be a sticking internal voltage regulator?
My alternator is working again putting out about 14.63 volts, could it be that the battery was that low the alternator didn't kick in until it was charged? Could it be a sticking internal voltage regulator?
I've never heard of a "sticking" voltage regulator....someone else may have heard of that. As a solid state device it seems unlikely. However, a dead battery may result in issues with alternator output. They aren't designed to charge dead batteries.
I am not fully aware of the Fiero alternator but some alternators require a current to "prime" the magnetic field. This juice comes from the battery and maybe there is a minimum voltage needed for this "prime" current. I have a MGB and it requires some juice to "prime" it before it will start charging.
I am not fully aware of the Fiero alternator but some alternators require a current to "prime" the magnetic field. This juice comes from the battery and maybe there is a minimum voltage needed for this "prime" current. I have a MGB and it requires some juice to "prime" it before it will start charging.
Yes...If I recall correctly it goes through the light on the dash. It uses the battery as a reference voltage to determine charge duty cycle. Although with too low a voltage it may not allow charging at all. I know this is true on other alternators, but not 100% sure about the Fiero. Haven't seen the circuit diagram so this is just best guess from what is common with other ones.
